The Children of the Wind Series | Book IV
Children of the Wind is a sweeping Irish-Australian saga made up of Bridie's story, Patrick's story, Colm's story and Maeve's story; four inter-linked novels, beginning with the 1850s and moving right up to the present
The Secret Life of Maeve Lee Kwong
Book IV | The Secret Life of Maeve Lee Kwong | 2004 - 2005
I keep thinking I’ll see him any moment. It’s crazy. I don’t even know what he looks like. And it shouldn’t matter that I can’t find him. I’ve been fine for 14 years without him. Sorry, this is a stupid email. Hope everything in Sydney is cool. MLK
She was just about to log off when a new message popped into her
mailbox. It was from Jackson. It was short and to the point and
just what she needed to hear.
Hey MLK. It is important. Go for it. Find him.
Xxxxxxx Love you all ways, JDT.
Maeve’s safe world is torn apart when her mother dies in a car crash. Sent to live with her strict Chinese grandparents, she fights to hold onto the things she loves most – her two best friends, her dancing, her baby brother Ned. Secretly she pins her hopes on her Irish father, who doesn’t even know she exists. From Sydney to Surfers, from Hong Kong to Ireland, Maeve searches for a path to follow, a place to belong.
A story about true friends, scattered family, and the life you make for yourself
The How and Why of The Secret Life of Maeve Lee Kwong
Even though ‘The Secret Life of Maeve Lee Kwong’ is set in the present, it’s still a work of historical fiction. It’s about a moment in time, about how we live now, in the early 21st century, and how one girl’s story can reflect a thousand other people’s experiences.
Dozens of different teenagers told me stories that worked their way into ‘The Secret Life of Maeve Lee Kwong’. My teenage goddaughters, my daughter and stepdaughters, my sons and stepson and countless students, both guys and girls, that I met while giving talks and workshops in schools all influenced what I wrote into Maeve’s story.
Lauren at the photo shoot for
the cover of the book
Lauren Magner, the girl who appears on the cover of the book is a student at Fintona Girls’ Grammar in Melbourne. I first met Lauren in 2003, when I conducted a workshop with Year 8 Fintona students who were studying Bridie’s Fire. At the end of the workshop, Lauren came up to say hello and tell me how much she had liked Bridie’s story because her dad’s family were of Irish descent.
It was spooky how much Lauren physically resembled Maeve. Like Maeve, Lauren’s mum’s family were of Chinese ancestry. Though Lauren and Maeve are very different people, I discovered they had a lot in common.
Lauren is a dedicated dancer, just like Maeve. When Lauren emailed me a list of songs that she thought Maeve would choose to dance to, those songs became the soundtrack for the novel. I played them over and over again as I wrote the scenes to which they were connected.
Before I even began to write Bridie’s Fire, I already knew that Maeve’s story would bring the whole series of Children of the Wind to a close. Over the last decade, I have met so many students with complex family backgrounds, just like Maeve Lee Kwong. Like the Irish, the Chinese have had a big impact on the development of Australia so I knew I wanted half of Maeve’s background to be Chinese. To make sure I got her family right, I enrolled in short courses in both Chinese language and read as much as I could about Chinese history and culture.
Gabrielle Wang, a children’s author whose family are fifth generation Chinese-Australians, reviewed all the Chinese content of the book. Gabrielle is the author of some fantastic books, including ‘The Empress Cassia’s Garden’, ‘The Pearl of Tiger Bay’ and ‘The Hidden Temple’. You can check out her website at http://www.gabriellewang.com
At Gabrielle’s suggestion, I attended a series of cooking classes taught by her mother, Mabel Wang, who is a wonderful cook and a great story-teller. I learnt to make fabulous ‘pot-sticker’ dumplings and everyone in my family was very excited by this new direction in my research!
Maeve’s story is set mostly in Sydney but in the course of the book she also visits Byron Bay, Surfers Paradise, Melbourne, Hong Kong and Ireland. To make sure I could describe those places properly, I visited each location. While visiting Hong Kong, I tried to imagine what it would be like for Maeve to have her first small taste of her grandparents history. In Byron Bay, I found the perfect setting for Maeve to mud wrestle with her best friends.
Lotus pond at ‘Kookaburra’
near Byron Bay
Hong Kong skyline from Victoria Peak
So many teenagers these days have opportunities to travel that I wanted this to be reflected in Maeve’s story. When I was in secondary school, it was very uncommon for students to have the chance to go overseas with their school but, in many ways, the world is growing smaller. It was hearing stories from jet-setting high school students that inspired me to send Maeve around the world.
Methodist Ladies College, in Melbourne, organise regular international tours for their students, including visits to the UK and Ireland. I based Maeve’s trip on their performing arts tours. Dana Duncan, head of drama at MLC supplied itineraries of the girls’ adventures and Niki Medwell, an ex-student who participated in one of the tours, shared her gossip and her scrapbook with me. Patrick Sutton of the Gaiety School of Theatre in Dublin gave me a blow-by-blow account of his classes with the visiting MLC students. The workshop that Maeve and her friends attend in Dublin is based on his workshop.
Although I lived in Sydney in the 1980s, I decided I needed to reacquaint myself with the city to make sure my descriptions were up to date. I also visited Saint Scholastica’s College in Glebe which fitted perfectly as a model for the fictitious Saint Philomena’s, where Maeve is a student. The fantastic girls of Saint Scholastica’s shared hundreds of great tips with me about their lives in Sydney as well as emailing me heaps of good advice.
Me and my aura captured at
the Crystal Castle near Byron Bay
I knew that Maeve’s story had to merge generations of Australian stories but I wanted her to be a very contemporary kid so I listened carefully to all the gossip and stories that kids of today have to share. I even started taking notes on public transport as I overheard stories that were so good, they just had to be woven into Maeve’s life.
For the fortune-telling scenes in the novel, I investigated dozens of superstitions. Like Maeve, I had my palm read while I was visiting Byron Bay and I even had my aura photographed!
I tried to incorporate into Maeve’s story some of the major changes that affect our lives today: the tragic impact that car accidents have in so many people’s lives, international travel, blended families and the way technology is working its way into every aspect of our communications. Most of these are small strands in a much larger tapestry.
Many facets of Maeve’s visit to Ireland will resonate with readers of the earlier books in the series. Maeve’s wanderings in the streets of Dublin echo Paddy Delaney experiences. In Dingle, she retraces Bridie’s footsteps to the famine cemetery. Colm McCabe who was the main character in ‘A Prayer for Blue Delaney’ is Maeve’s teacher and he travels with her, his story running parallel to her journey of discovery.
Maeve’s story connects her to many other people, not just her friends and family. One thing I’ve definitely learnt from writing ‘Children of the Wind’ is that no matter how dark things become in our lives, our experiences connect us to the whole history of humanity and our stories touch upon the lives of more people than we can imagine. I think the poet John Donne summed it up perfectly when he wrote the following famous lines:
"All mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated...No man is an island, entire of itself...any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."
What the critics wrote about
The Secret Life of Maeve Lee Kwong
I loved being in the secret world of Maeve, a place rich in laughter and tears, ghosts and surprises –
all the right ingredients for a terrific read.
Brigid Lowry
Kirsty Murray understands families, joy and the relentlessness of grief. This is a stirring story, rigorously researched so that each detail feels true.
Alyssa Brugman
Author of ‘Finding Grace’
Murray paints with a broad brush in big, colourful sweeps… Maeve is resourceful and is surrounded by supportive people – even those against whom she rebels. It is one of the delights of Murray’s writing that even her ‘difficult’ characters have their good side. Her novels are reassuring and full of hope, even though tough things happen; an uplifting sort of ‘hero’s journey’.
Kathy Kozlowski,
Australian Book Review, October 2006
This book is beautifully written, with a fine understanding of a young girl’s psyche.
Mary Kent, Laurence College QLD
Kirsty Murray perfectly captures the feelings, thoughts, likes, dislikes and the agony and ecstasy of being a young teen.
Debbie Williams,
Mountain District Christian School
I don’t ever read. I hate reading. But I just finished your book ‘The Secret Life of Maeve Lee Kwong’ and I loved it so much I was crying most of the way through it. It was the best book ever.
Kelly McInnes,
Year 9, Damascus College, Ballarat
Author Kirsty Murray creates such vivid characters and scenarios in this book that I found myself overcoming my too-good-for-teenagers attitude and being sucked into the page turning word of fourteen year old Maeve.
Being an Australian born Chinese myself, I could relate to the confusion and struggle to express to other people the sense of being Australian above all else. Murray does an impressive job with Maeve’s character, illustrating the emotions and reactions that are attached to having roots from several countries…
I don’t know about you, but I’m off to my local bookstore to devour the rest of this captivating series.
Soo Lee Tan,
Viewpoint Magazine, Spring, 2007
Murray writes with enormous empathy for kids and their struggles, imbuing her stories with great warmth as well as a sense of the history and the cultural cocktail that makes Australia what it is today. A compelling read for ages 12 and up.
Dani Colvin,
Sunday Tasmanian
Links
The Chinese have had a continuing and important connection with Australia and its history. Museums honouring our Chinese heritage are in both Melbourne and Bendigo. They have lots to explore on their websites:
http://www.chinesemuseum.com.au/
http://www.goldendragonmuseum.org/
In Chapter 16, Maeve and her friends visit a place called Crystal Castle where Maeve gets her palm read. Crystal Castle is a real place in NSW which I visited while researching the book. I’m not actually superstitious at all but it was a fun place to visit. You can check out their website at:
When Maeve visits the Dingle peninsula in Ireland, she retraces the steps of Bridie O’Connor who was the main character in Bridie’s Fire. The Dingle peninsula is a beautiful part of the world and rich in history. I visited Dingle to research Bridie’s story and to imagine my way into Maeve’s story as well. You can see how beautiful the area is by exploring this website:
http://www.dingle-peninsula.ie/
Click here to check out extracts from
The Secret Life of Maeve Lee Kwong